What
we have here is a beautiful red translucent split 7" from two hip
new acts, The Poison Control Center from Ames, Iowa and Lake
Holiday from Toronto, Ontario.

Side A houses four short tracks by The Poison Control Center,
who have a very psychedelic sixties sound. "Little N Marie
U" starts things off as a pop tune filled with those typical
warbly, dreamy vocals that dominated the psych era - heck, they've
even got the British accents to really give it that British Invasion
sound. Then comes "The Sunshine Factory", an
organ-based tune with even more modified vocals, warbly to the point
of being incomprehensible to most listeners. "The Moon
Softly Recedes, Turning Spinning Flowers Back Into Seeds" then
comes in with your typical sixties riff (kind of like "Louie
Louie," although I'm sure there's better comparisons I'm not
thinking of right now) and a bit more power and energy - this is a
nice contrast with the other tracks, and one that is further carried
on in "Good Morning," another powerful number that blends
garage with nice sixties beat pop.

Side B boasts two tracks from Toronto's Lake Holiday.
I obviously have a soft spot for them since they're from my hometown,
but take my word for it, they've got a really nice sound.
"All My Enemies," their first piece, is a calm, quiet pop
number with a nice melody. But everything works best on "If
This is a War", which blows the first track totally out of the water
with a gust of reverbed vocals and energetic, fun guitars. The
chorus is irresistibly catchy and carefree, with a certain britpop
influence and a definite penchant for sixties-styled guitar.

Altogether, this is a very enjoyable release from a couple of
really interesting bands. Both boast a sound influenced by the
past - The Poison Control Center go for straight up revivalism,
whereas Lake Holiday take a more modern approach. Both
do what they do well, though, and that's what makes this such a
successful record.